


Stress Management

by queen_scribbles



Series: Straight Up Truth [10]
Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic
Genre: F/M, Sparring, Stress Relief
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-16
Updated: 2018-09-16
Packaged: 2019-07-13 01:25:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16007381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queen_scribbles/pseuds/queen_scribbles
Summary: Jaaide is having a bad day.  Theron wants to fix that.





	Stress Management

 

Jaaide tapped her fingers against the blank screen of her datapad, waiting for it to flicker back to life. _Today has been rotten enough, for the love of the stars, please don’t add to it._ The datapad finished restarting and she impatiently tapped through menus to reach the file she needed and pulled it up.

It was completely, totally,  one hundred percent blank.

“ _ **Damn**_ it!!” Jaaide hissed, fingers tightening on the casing in frustration. That was three hours of her day down the drain. “What’s the point of having a save function if it doesn’t kriffing _work_?!” she growled, and winged the datapad toward the far wall. It ricocheted off the durasteel and clattered against the floor, momentum still carrying it toward the door.

Theron stopped it with one foot as he stepped into the room. “Bad day, huh? You’ve never thrown one of those before.”

“You don’t know the half of it,” Jaaide groaned, slouching in her chair and rubbing at the beginnings of a headache.

“Enlighten me,” Theron siad sympathetically, bumping the door controls with this elbow so it would close behind him.

“Where to begin?” She pushed out of her chair and paced toward the balcony.  “With the new regs I have to review and approve because Hylo caught one of her people skimming? Or maybe the Imperial delegate who refused to join our ‘traitor-helmed’ alliance? Or the extra issues one of Aygo’s mechanics found while tuning up my ship?” She raked one hand through her hair and growled. “How about the report I just spent _three hours_ working on and lost because the datapad decided to reboot?! Why does the damn thing give the option of saving your work if it’s not actually going to _do it_?!”

Theron let her vent, then gently but firmly rested his hands on her shoulders to stop her pacing before pulling her into a hug. “That is a very bad day.”

“Why are you here, anyway?” Jaaide mumbled against his chest, leaning into the hug.

“Had free time between meetings, was gonna see if you wanna get a bite to eat.” He rubbed her back. “Now I’m thinking maybe there’s something else you need more.”

“Really, like what?” she tipped her chin up to look at him.

Theron grinned. “Come on. Just trust me.”

“ _That’s_ what a girl likes to hear,” Jaaide teased. But she did trust him, so she followed when he tugged her out toward the hallway.

-o- -o- -o-

“I do have to admit, this is not what I was expecting,” she admitted a few minutes later when they reached their destination. Jaaide surveyed the sparring mat, the weapon racks hanging from the walls, and then looked up at Theron. “Why...?”

He shrugged, grinning back. “You need to get out some of this pent-up frustration that has you practically vibrating, and I need to stay in practice.”

She raised an eyebrow. “In practice with what?”

Theron shrugged again, pulling off his gloves and jacket. He was still grinning. Oh, it was dangerous, that grin. “Your choice. Commander.”

_Two can play at that game,_ Jaaide thought to herself, trying not to linger too long on his arms before shifting her gaze to the weapon racks. As she scanned over her options, she shrugged off her outer shirt. It would be more comfortable in just the grey tank top underneath. One by one, she discarded the weapon options, finally turning back to Theron with a smirk almost the match of his. “How good are you at hand to hand, Agent Shan?”

“Pretty damn,” he said, crossing his arms. “Why do I feel like you’re about to test that claim?”

Jaaide rolled her shoulders and smiled sweetly. “Because you’re a smart man.”

“Flattery will get you _almost_ everywhere,” Theron drawled, stepping onto he sparring mat.

“Almost?” Jaaide repeated coyly as she joined him. She rocked up on the balls of her feet to test the give. Not enough to trip up boots, but enough to make falling hurt less. Perfect.

“Yes, almost.” He handed her a pair of padded fingerless gloves and pulled his own on. “I’m gonna make you work for the rest of it.”

“Tough talk, Shan.” She smirked and slipped on the gloves. “I hope you’re ready to back it up.”

He matched her smirk, reaching over to playfully flick hair out of her eyes. “Absolutely, Arien.”

“Well, in that case...” Jaaide grabbed his wrist before he could pull his hand back, tugging him forward as she spun so her opposite elbow connected with his side, just below his ribs(not nearly as hard as she could’ve).

Theron grunted and twisted his captured wrist up behind her back, forcing her to let go if she didn’t want to dislocate something. The second she let go, Jaaide pivoted on one heel to face him again, fully expecting she’d need to block a punch. Her instincts were good, but Theron had been anticipating the block, so even as she knocked aside the first punch the second caught her high on the shoulder. She rolled with it to lessen the impact, but could tell it was nowhere near his best shot. She sidestepped, planted one foot behind him, and when he started pulling back from the punch, put her forearm against his chest and shoved.

Theron caught on just a second too late to avoid going down, but he did snap a hand up to grab her arm and pull her with him. They landed in a tangle, Jaaide’s elbow digging into his ribs, and missed knocking heads by a whisper.

“Score one for Imperial Intelligence,” Theron laughed, letting his head fall back on the mat. “I should’ve seen that coming.”

Jaaide smirked, but was nice enough not to concur with the latter part. “Score one right back for the SIS,” she shrugged, lightly tapping the tip of his nose with one finger. “And I have to concede your earlier point; this is going to be a great help.”

“Yeah?” he grinned.

She nodded, mischievous twinkle in her eye. “You’re clearly out of practice.”

“You-” Theron pushed up on his elbows, half unseating her, but Jaaide cut off his protest with a finger against his lips as her other hand rose to answer the comm warbling in her ear.

“What is it, Lana?” she asked, rolling the rest of the way off Theron and sitting next to him as she listened to the news Lana was passing along. “...Thank you for telling me.” She closed the connection and flopped back on the mat. “And here I thought today couldn’t get any worse...”

“What now?” Theron asked as he sat up.

“Councilman Feyl,” Jaaide said, fighting the urge to spit the name of one of the biggest diplomatic thorns in her side. “He’s playing hard to get again; want favors as proof of how it will benefit him--not his people, though that’s how he couched it, _him_ \--to tie his planet to the Alliance.” She sighed, let her gaze drifted across the ceiling. “I’m not normally a violent person, Theron, but there are times I want to punch that man in the face.”

“Will you settle for trying to punch me in the face? In the interest of avoiding a diplomatic incident?” he teased, pushing to his feet. “Sounds like both of us need to keep going.” He held out a hand to help her up.

“Try?” she ribbed, arching one eyebrow. She accepted the hand Theron offered, but rather than letting him pull her to her feet, Jaaide pulled him back down. Theron was a bit more prepared this time, and tucked one shoulder, so he would both miss landing on top of Jaaide and roll to a position where he could regain his feet. Jaaide took those few seconds to get to her feet on her own. “I feel I should point out that if I were to _try_ to punch you in the face, I would very likely succeed.”

Theron smirked. “You sure you could reach?”

Jaaide let her hands drop to her sides and sent him a dirty look. “Those are fighting words, Shan.”

He jut grinned and backed up a step or two to ensure she’d chase him. “Then I guess it’s a good thing we’re down here.”

She’d never been one to back down from a challenge, so chase him she did. She managed to land a couple hits on his arms, and a fairly solid one in his gut, but didn’t press her advantage when he hunched over after the latter. “I’m not falling for that, Theron.”

He laughed at the amusement in her voice as he straightened. “Worth a shot.” He blocked her next punch, and went for an arm lock with the one after that. Jaaide read the cues in his body language and managed to twist away and free before he could trap her. “Oh, so they did teach you something useful in Imperial Intelligence.”

Jaaide huffed a breathless laugh at the ribbing. “ _Several_ useful things,” she retorted, deflecting another punch with one hand as her other fist made contact just above his hip.

Theron swore under his breath and pivoted away, using his already-raised arm to block her follow up strike. This time when he tried for an arm lock he was fast enough to succeed.

Normally, with someone closer to her own height, Jaaide would have rocked up on the balls of her feet and spun inward to elbow them in the ribs, much like her opening move, or flip them. But Theron was so damn tall, rather than getting him to let go, that move would just give him a greater advantage and have her more off balance. Nor was this Imperial Intelligence, where risking a dislocated shoulder or elbow was an acceptable move. A flash of inspiration struck her, something Kothe had taught her during the Shadow Arsenal assignment, and and she flicked her trapped hand up to dig her thumb into the outside edge of Theron’s elbow. She couldn’t get a good enough angle to fully exploit the pressure point, but she could make him loosen his grip so she could get her arm free.

“Forgot you worked with Kothe,” Theron said wryly, shaking the twinge of numbness out of his arm.

“That’s right, I know your tricks,” she teased, as she bent her elbow a few times to make sure there was no lingering damage or pain.

“Not all of them,” Theron shot back. He threw a lazy punch toward her shoulder again, and this time when she started to roll away from it, followed with another from the other side.

Jaaide saw just in time to dodge, setting her feet and bending backwards at the knees until she was almost parallel with the floor. She smirked to herself, bent even lower to brace one hand against the mat, and hooked one foot behind Theron’s ankle, sweeping forward so he lost his balance and went down again. She’d straightened by the time he hit the mat, and rested her hands on her hips as she grinned at him. “Score another for Imperial Intelligence.”

Theron laughed wryly as he rolled onto his back. “Guess I don’t know all your tricks either, huh?”

“Surprises keep things interesting,” Jaaide said, offering him a hand up. “Very true.” He didn’t try anything as she helped him to his feet. “Though you’d think I would remember how flexible you are.”

She smirked and raked sweaty hair back from her face. “You’d think. You’d also think someone in your line of work would have better balance.”

“You’d think.” He flexed his fingers. “Feeling better? Or do we need to go again?”

“Can I say yes to both?” Jaaide pressed one fist into the palm of the other hand and rolled her shoulders. “It is _helping_ , but Feyl’s shenanigans are going to take a bit more to work past.” She smiled. “We can change it up if you’re tired of ending up on the floor.”

Theron chuckled sarcastically. “You’re very funny. When you say change it up, what did you have in mind?”

Jaaide crossed to a weapon rack and selected a vibroknife, flipping the small practice blade around her hand to test the balance. “If part of this is helping you stay in practice, what say we switch to disarming an attacker with a weapon?”

“Sure,” he shrugged, “but aren’t knife fights all about reach?”

“It is an advantage,” she acknowledged, getting a firm grip on the knife’s hilt. “But I wouldn’t completely discount flexibility if I were you.”

“Oh, of course. That would be stupid.” He smirked. “Which I”m not, according to you.” He raised both hands and gestured _bring it on_.

Even being a Republic-issue practice model, the knife felt perfectly at home in Jaaide’s hand. She may have specialized in medical training, but there had been ample focus on close quarters combat as well, and she was very good at it. She wondered briefly if Theron remembered that(or knew it in the first place) as she started circling toward him. His stance made it clear he knew what he was doing, and he did have a point about reach. She’d have to be smart about this. And quick.

Settling the knife securely in a forward grip, she made her first move. A feint right followed quickly by a strike left that Theron deflected back toward her before it got anywhere near close enough.

“I’m staying strictly defensive on this, by the way,” he said, backing up a step.

“Fine by me.” That would mean her going to him, and fewer exploitable openings, but gave her greater control. IT was a fair trade off. She made a couple more feints to test, and then went in for real. She got closer this time before Theron blocked it, and even as he pushed her arm out and up, she slid it around the underside of his arm and went in again. The blade just barely brushed his shirt as he backpedaled.

“Oh, you’re good,” he chuckled, circling a few steps to his right.

“Thanks, so are you,” Jaaide replied as she flipped the knife to a reverse grip. That sacrificed a couple inches of reach, but made it far easier to cause damage; another trade off she could live with. Clearly that couple inches wasn’t helping much anyway.

“Gettin’ serious, huh?” Theron teased, shifting his weight between his feet.

“One of us should,” she shot back, grinning as she ran through options in her head. She whipped the knife hand up toward the opposite shoulder in an arc more intended to make Theron back up than actually make contact. IT still caught a glancing blow against his wrist, but so lightly he barely even flinched. He did back up, however, and to the side as well, which gave her more room. She stepped forward rapidly, swinging the knife down along its previous arc.

Rather than deflect or dodge this one, Theron stepped forward as well and grabbed her wrist. He twisted her arm out and then up behind her as his continued his forward path until an off-balance Jaaide was pinned to the wall, trapping their hands and the knife between the small of her back and the unyielding durasteel.

“Told you,” he said, breathing hard as he braced his free hand by her shoulder. “Knife fights are all about reach.”

Jaaide tried wiggling her trapped wrist, but his grip was firm, so she relaxed back against the wall and met his gaze with a spark of mischief in her eyes. “Is this how you impress all the girls?” she whispered, still breathing hard herself.

“Only the ones I really like,” Theron murmured back, that dangerous grin spreading across his face again.

They only held each other’s gaze for another heartbeat or two before they were both moving toward the inevitable kiss, Jaaide pushed up on her toes and THeron bent down, her free hand curving against his jaw as his slid up into her hair. And then their grips slacked and the knife fell to the floor, freeing up their other hand as well. By the time they broke for air, Jaaide’s arms were around Theron’s neck, and his hands were well  dug into her hair, the heels just barely resting against the edge of her jaw, both heedless of the sweat.

“You do have very good reach,” Jaaide mumbled in the scant space between them.

“And I”m definitely a fan of your flexibility,” Theron said in return, stealing another quick kiss. “So, am I safe in assuming this helped with your stress levels?”

She laughed, loosening her grip fractionally. “Yes, that would be a safe guess. I can think of something else that might help. But it’s probably best done in my quarters with the door locked.”

“And what would that be?” He punctuated the words by leaning his forehead against hers.

Jaaide grinned and dropped her voice to a sultry tone. “A nice, long _hot_ shower.”

Theron growled and let his hands drop to rest on her shoulders. “You _tease_.”

“We _can_ take it together, you realize,” she pointed out mischievously, hands tracing down to curl against his chest. “I have a very large shower.”

“Better,” he said emphatically, and kissed her again. They reluctantly parted, straightening the practice room quickly and gathering their things.

As they made their way back to her quarters, Jaaide slipped her hand in Theron’s and gave it a squeeze. “Thank you. For that. It really did help a lot.”

“You’re very welcome.” Theron kissed the top of her head and freed his hand from hers to instead drape his arm around her shoulders. “I’m glad it helped.”

Jaaide didn’t stop smiling the rest of the way back to her quarters. Or in the shower. Or for a good bit after, as the two of them sat on her couch and THeron helped her reconstruct her lost report.

Maybe today wasn’t _entirely_ rotten after all.


End file.
